Recreational vehicles provide many of the comforts of home, including toilet facilities, on a mobile platform to allow vacationers to travel away from home in comfort. One critical system common to all recreational vehicles is a waste disposal system by which the recreational vehicle can be periodically coupled to a municipal sewer system for disposal of wastes collected on the recreational vehicle. Such systems typically include a holding tank on the recreational vehicle and a detachable elongate flexible sewer hose which is attached to the holding tank and then extends away from the recreational vehicle and attaches on an opposite end to the municipal sewer system or other disposal system. Typically such sewer hoses have a three inch diameter and are between ten and twenty feet long when extended. These sewer hoses can be collapsed down to a length less than two feet. It is critical that the sewer hose be maintained in proper working order. A damaged sewer hose can lead to improper disposal of sewage leading to the potential for spread of disease and noxious odors.
One common type of sewer hose attains the desired amount of linear extensibility by having a configuration with a wire extending helically from one of the sewer hose to the other end of the sewer hose with a bellows-type web joining adjacent turns of this helical wire. The bellows material can be formed from a plastic or rubber material having sufficient resiliency to allow the bellows to open and close and the hose in turn to flex and elongate and contract.
While such a configuration does provide the desired elongatability to allow the sewer hose to extend from the recreational vehicle to the disposal site and still be collapsed for storage within the recreational vehicle when not in use, such sewer hoses are susceptible to damage. Most commonly, such sewer hoses are damaged due to rubbing of the hose adjacent surfaces of the recreational vehicle storage space during transport. Such rubbing can cause the wire to be exposed and for holes in the bellows to form such that sewage can leak out of the hose. Additionally, when the wire is exposed it can rust and become weakened, and eventually break or significantly decrease the strength of the sewer hose. Also, it is beneficial to have the sewer hose stored in a fashion which allows the sewer hose to readily dry out between uses to minimize the presence of unpleasant odors and which facilitates ease in handling the sewer hose.
Accordingly, many different systems are known in the prior art for storing a recreational vehicle sewer hose when the sewer hose is not in use. Unfortunately, most prior art sewer hose storage systems have emphasized ease of accessibility to the sewer hose rather than protection of the sewer hose itself and effective ventilation. For instance, one common system utilized for storing a recreational vehicle sewer hose is to provide an elongate tube of square cross-section either attached to a bumper of the recreational vehicle or formed within the bumper itself into which the sewer hose can be placed. Such storage systems are ineffective because the sewer hose is caused to rub against the interior of the storage space when being loaded into the storage space and removed from the storage space and also while the recreational vehicle is traveling over the roads. This rubbing over time causes significant abrasive wear to the sewer hose's outer surface and exposure of the helical wire and other damage to the sewer hose. Additionally, such storage arrangements do not provide effective ventilation for an interior of the sewer hose and encourage the formation of rust in the helical wire forming the sewer hose.
Often recreational vehicle users will merely stuff the sewer hose into a storage locker without necessarily collapsing down the length of the sewer hose. Such a storage technique is particularly difficult to perform, especially when the sewer hose is wet or dirty and causes the sewer hose to contaminate any other articles placed within the storage space. Additionally, the sewer hose still undergoes significant abrasive wear and susceptibility to kinking and other damage to the sewer hose.
Accordingly, a need exists for a retainer for securely holding the sewer hose in a collapsed fashion which does not cause the sewer hose to undergo excessive abrasive wear and which still allows an interior of the sewer hose to be properly ventilated.